KRON, Rupert Murdoch and (maybe) tabloid TV

TIM GOODMAN

Published 4:00 am, Monday, June 21, 1999

WHAT IF one day you turned on your TV and went to KRON Ch. 4,searching for the news of the day, and you got stories about wacky strippers or fluffy lifestyle stories instead of anchor Pete Wilson talking about Mayor Willie Brown?

Maybe it's a long shot, but it could happen. Tabloidization is just one of many possible scenarios being spun since the owners of KRON-TV and the San Francisco Chronicle last week authorized the sale of

"all or some of" Chronicle Publishing.

One of the underdogs panting to get a bite of KRON-TV is Barry Diller's USA Networks. Diller owns a Miami station called, appropriately, WAMI, and it delivers some of the weirdest non-traditional news you're likely to see this side of KBWB Ch. 20.

Could Diller and USA Networks (the most-watched cable channel, by the way) make a play for KRON-TV and turn Gary Radnich into a juggler rather than a sportscaster? Sure they could. But they aren't likely to win the best-offer lottery that will land some bidder a prime television station in the country's fifth-largest media market.

The front-runner and likely buyer is NBC, not only because KRON is an affiliate but because it simply can't afford to lose San Francisco. It's not an option. "NBC wants it real bad - for obvious reasons," said Don Fitzpatrick, a media analyst based in San Francisco. NBC would be loath to switch dial positions and force Bay Area viewers to rethink where they need to go to find "Friends" and other popular fare.

Besides, Fitzpatrick said, both of NBC's stations in New York and Los Angeles are also at the Channel 4 position and it's easier to market.

Coming into this fray utterly disinterested in how things fit together so nicely is Rupert Murdoch, owner of News Corp., which owns the Fox Network. Although KTVU Ch. 2 is a Fox affiliate, showing "The Simpsons" and "The X-Files" and other hits, the station is owned by Cox Broadcasting. That means Murdoch, an acquirer of anything he pleases, doesn't have a TV station in San Francisco to call his own.

Consider him the wild card. A very wild card.

And with sources close to the NBC-KRON affiliate agreement saying NBC does not have the right of first refusal on a sale, Murdoch may come into the market and at the very least jack the price up and cause General Electric, owner of NBC, serious financial pain.

"He's not beyond that," Fitzpatrick said. "He's a ruthless guy."

There is also some precedent to Murdoch having an interest in KRON. About five years ago, Fitzpatrick said, the families that run the Chronicle Publishing Co., which owns KRON, were dangling the TV station for sale.

"Murdoch was making more of a splash than NBC was," Fitzgerald said. "And that really p- - - - - off Cox and KTVU and (general manager) Kevin O'Brien."

At the time, the Australian media giant made a trip to San Francisco and met with the families in charge of KRON's fate, but - as usual at the time - they were bickering and couldn't come up with a deal.

These days the families are ready to sell but O'Brien is playing it calm, believing that Fox has no interest in switching. "I'm convinced it's NBC," he said. "But either way, if it's Fox, and I don't think it is, KTVU will be in fine shape."

One of the reasons Murdoch might not be willing to get involved - other than to raise the bidding price - is that some in the TV industry think KRON could go for as high as $900 million, and why would Murdoch want to spend that much just to switch two dial positions and have to make loyal Fox viewers get used to seeing their shows where

"Frasier" and "ER" once resided?

Station swapping generally has caused a precipitous drop in ratings for those involved, but Fitzpatrick believes that if Murdoch really wants KRON, he's not going to care about the details.

"All of this boils down to ownership of stations. All they want is more. They're not worried about dial positions. I'm sure if (Murdoch) had his druthers, he'd rather buy KTVU, but I don't think Cox is putting it up for sale."

Representatives at KRON were not available for comment.

This is all speculation, of course. Nobody knows what's going to happen. And although there are many allegedly interested buyers, smart money says NBC spends whatever is necessary not to lose its San Francisco jewel.

Nothing would change if that were the case, except a potential switch in call letters. KNBC is already taken in Los Angeles and KRON may be meaningless post-sale, but familiarity has merit and perhaps NBC could just keep the same letters.

If there is some surprise and Murdoch does buy KRON, there would be a major shake-up of the on-air look. KRON likely would be molded into a flashier, more modern operation and there certainly would be more bells and whistles in its newscast (which would drive Wilson and others serious about the news insane).

KTVU - which most likely would become the NBC affiliate by default - would have to restructure its news department, adding as many as two early news broadcasts of its own, fit in "NBC Nightly News" and then dismantle its powerhouse

"10 O'Clock News," which no longer would be viable because of NBC's need for the 10 p.m. hour for prime-time programming.

That would be a fairly revolutionary idea and nearly unthinkable because Cox, which owns KTVU, would be reluctant to change anything at the station because it's a cash cow. Would that mean that NBC, suddenly on the outs, would have to feverishly pursue a smaller station up in the dial - KBWB or KBHK - all the while dealing from a position of weakness? Yes. And such a dial position virtually would kill any chances of NBC's prime-time lineup getting watched, which ought to answer the original question of whether NBC will do anything to buy

KRON.

In the coming months, there will be all kinds of ludicrous scenarios presented - yes, even Diller turning KRON into a cotton-candy news operation - but they are all exactly that. Ludicrous. NBC can't afford to not buy KRON.